just trying to find suppliers of HPL and ABS in the UK who dont require you to order a factory load of the stuff!
i would be most grateful if you guys could point me in the right direction
cheers for your time

Hi,

Im new to this, but Im building my 1st board, dont know what HPL is ??, and I tried to find a local source of small amounts of ABS strip and gave up, was trying to find an easy way round the ABS rail thing and finally came up with 17 mm x 4 mm hardwood moulding which is really cheap about £ 3 for 2.5 metres at B&Q, and when cut in half along its length makes a great 4mm rail, bonds well to a formica base / glass and is realtively hard wearing specially if coated with resin (Im guessing !).

By the way:

Ive laminated a 20mm thick foam / glass core the Eric H way (but not vacuumed) and it looks great but now its cured Ive just found out it flexes like a wet stick.

I thought it would be stiff .... Any ideas what went wrong ?? I cant believe the deck laminate when added will stiffen it that much.

the only guy i know with a source of abs, is eddy diffusivity, aka ron, pm him for his supplier, though i think he's using mouldable plastic rails now. he's got some good suppliers.

kermy: you've gotta vacuum the stuff to get the air out and tight bonds between the layers, otherwise, wet noodle board. what weight of glass and how many layers did you use? and that hard wood will take on water like a sinking ship if you scratch the resin off.

HPL: high pressure laminate or formica, formica is a trade name, basically impregnated wood particulate laminate with phenolic resin.

Hi sq225917,

I see what your saying but not too worried about the hardwood as its my prototype.

Ive layed up four layers of 5mm foam sandwiched with 4 oz glass weave on to a formica base and weighed em down well so the bonding seems ok.

I could add more layers, but I wanted a light board. Stringers or carbon is an option I spose but from what Ive read I thought that glass should be sufficient with this construction.

Thanks for your advise !



PS Guest... Check out Formica.com, I got mine from their outlet in Gants Hill, Essex, 10ft x 4 ft sheet for £ 35... I got plenty left !!

kermy, more glass....

Si I think he got sommat wrong - Kermy - forgat that 4Oz shit your wasting in the ply foam and wrap it around yer board instead, it'll be far more usefull there.

The stuff between the plies offers no structural benefit.

When you laminate the top - you will be very surprised.

Go for it.

R.

And I cant supply ABS As Its bloody hard for me to get too !

Sorry chaps, advise is another thing altoghether - will be happy to supply that.

Regds

Ron.

ah, i get what he's done, layers in between sheets of foam without coming over the edge to cover the bottom of the board each time.

eric doesnt give all his secrets away on his web site you know.

this stuff is readilly availiable and not hard to get!!

try searching for suppliers of engineering plastics in google

eventually youll find it

6mm 8x4 feet sheet in black will cost you about 90 quid

cut up with router

loadsa rails!! flip tips !! fin blocks!!

good luck it took me hours to find my supplier but they are out there

hope this helps